Imagine working by the beach at a resort during the day, and then roasting marshmallows and watching shooting stars with the family by your private pool come evening. Such a work-life scenario is sure to inspire new thinking and deepen your focus on work, while enjoying the luxuries of a vacation.
This is the allure of workations. And with the growing popularity of remote working, it’s no surprise that such hybrid travel options are becoming more mainstream than ever before.
But, what does that mean for the short-term rental industry?
The workation boom and short-term rentals
It all started with the pandemic, when workers across the globe left the office in droves. Soon, the staff adjusted to the new ‘work from home’ normal and found that they could operate productively from anywhere.
The past 18-odd months of remote working has created a preference amongst digital nomads to choose a more flexible system that combines work and travel.
No wonder guests at vacation rentals are now choosing to work-some and play-some during their vacations.
Such trips may last one long weekend or several weeks, even months, and presents a big opportunity for property managers and owners of short-term rentals to capture this demand for a ‘home away from home’.
Equipping your vacation rental with all the creature comforts and technologies to facilitate remote work is the best way to ensure that your listings attract more interest than ever before.
What does a work traveler expect?
Today’s telecommuters are tech-savvy and want the same conveniences that they enjoy at their home offices.
This is why it’s important to tech up and improve the comfort quotient of your short-term rentals. To stay competitive and relevant, you must upgrade your property to suit the unique needs of the remote working crowd.
Here are our top tips to meet remote worker expectations of their vacation rental homes:
- Improve productivity with seamless technologies: To deliver a perfect flexible work life experience at a vacation rental, good WiFi is essential. But, that’s not all. Your short-term rental should also be fitted with other smart home tech that can make the stay hassle-free, such as smart locks, connected thermostats, lighting control, and noise monitors. Such remote-access and intuitive vacation rental automation technologies will leave guests free to focus on work when necessary, without worrying about home management.
- Create environs of comfort and fun: Comfort at the vacation rental could mean so many different things to the digital nomad. It could translate into the best quality mattress to help them rejuvenate for the next work day, or a state-of-the-art gym for a stress-busting workout, a children’s play area that keeps the little ones busy as the parents work, and so on. You also need to make sure that they can enjoy all the comforts of a vacation while getting on with the day job. To make your property stand out, it would be great to offer guests a little pampering and fun in the form of access to a jacuzzi, fireplace, gaming consoles, reading corner, family-friendly games, local maps, guidebooks etc.
- Improve connection with nature: Ever since the pandemic, holiday-goers are choosing short-term rentals as their work-from-home office that offers a change of scenery – a literal breath of fresh air. When a guest checks-in to a vacation rental, they usually want to be able to step away from the hustle bustle of the city-life, ditch the mask and take in the fresh air and greenery. This is a given with forest-view, farm, seaside, hillside or lakeside properties. But, if your property is not situated close to nature, then you might want to make the most of a large backyard or balcony by sprucing it up with outdoor plants, adding a bird feeder to attract local fauna, and maybe even setting up mini water features around the house.
- Build a dedicated work space: It’s okay to work from the living room couch once in a while, but in the long term it can be distracting and not great for the guests’ posture. Therefore, consider setting up workstations in your rental. This would include creating exclusive work zones, featuring a desk, ergonomically-designed chairs, extra monitors, wireless keyboard, complimentary office supplies, phone jacks, good lighting etc. Such well-equipped nooks should also give guests the privacy to conduct their meetings in peace and quiet.
Vacation rentals: The new home office from home
The flexible work traveler is here to stay. In fact, research shows that the bookings for longer stays at vacation rentals are skyrocketing.
This is a big opportunity for the short-term rental industry. And lucrative too. After all, longer stays mean greater efficiency.
From high-speed WiFi and printers to a washer and dryer, and other conveniences, it’s time to give the flexible traveller everything they need to ensure the vacation rental is the ultimate home-office away from home.
If you are hoping to take advantage of this remote working trend and service the demand upswing, be sure to also invest in vacation rental automation. It will help optimize existing processes and customer experiences to improve vacation rental productivity, convenience, and hygiene.
Contact us to find out how smart home automation can help you get your vacation rental ready for the remote work traveler.
